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Media · 2021

CEO Council

Virtual event platform for 250+ CEOs, designed and shipped in eight weeks. 2.4x attendee engagement.

Context

The Wall Street Journal's CEO Council is one of their most prestigious events: 250+ CEOs and global leaders, traditionally hosted in person. COVID made that impossible. Cheerful Twentyfirst, who had run the in-person event, was asked to deliver the virtual edition. Eight weeks to design and ship.

Problem

A time-poor audience with no tolerance for friction. Networking was the reason people attended in person, and virtual platforms didn't support it well. And it had to carry WSJ's brand.

What I did

  • Two spaces: Auditorium for talks and Q&A, Lobby for networking. Physical metaphors that made navigation intuitive without explanation.
  • Page fold as priority: above the fold on every page, the single thing the user most likely wanted (question form in the Auditorium, live attendee count in the Lobby).
  • Built for reuse: utility classes, CSS variables as design tokens, documented as we wrote it.

I designed every surface and led front-end development alongside Gramercy Tech.

The Welcome page architecture, prioritising the user's most likely need above the fold.

Impact

2.4x attendee engagement versus WSJ's prior virtual event (Cheerful Twentyfirst). The design and codebase were adopted across WSJ's Leadership Institute events: CFO & COO Council, Technology Council.

2.4× Attendee engagement vs prior virtual event Attendees spent more time watching and networking on the platform.
8 weeks Designed and shipped The interface was designed and front-end built in that window.
Adopted Across WSJ's Leadership Institute events The design and codebase became the template for all subsequent Leadership Institute events.

A huge thank you for the delivery. We are getting endless thanks, high-fives and praise from all parties, internal and external.

Angus Peckham-Cooper
Angus Peckham-Cooper Vice President, Global Events, Wall Street Journal